Living in the South, it’s nothing out the ordinary for a lot of people to attend church services on a Sunday morning. Some are dragged to church by their parents. Some have gone to church their whole lives and know no different. Others, however, go to really engage and dive deep into their relationship with God.

The biggest dilemma that I have as a Christian teenager trying to make disciples and spread the gospel is that it is an awkward approach when nearly everyone around you has heard about God or goes to church, yet simply chooses not to serve God wholeheartedly. Not only is this a dangerous way to live but a tiring one as well.

Luke 16:13 says, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (ESV). In it's original context, this scripture was expressing the troubles with being a servant of God and a servant of money. However, this scripture is applicable in modern-day context with anything we serve halfway. You can’t live on the fence serving God and serving your flesh. As a matter of fact, God would rather we just choose a side, instead of trying to live in a grey area.

Think about it this way: you may be the only person who a nonbeliever encounters in his or her life who knows about God. We don’t just attest to being believers by saying so; we truly attest to being believers through our actions. How confusing or hypocritical would it be for a nonbeliever to hear us saying we’re believers one minute and living the completely opposite way the next?

If we picked up our Bibles more than just when we’re trying to find scriptures to twist to justify our sin, our lives would look a lot different. You can’t choose to follow the parts of the Bible that make you feel good about yourself, but not choose to follow the parts that makes you uncomfortable. If we served God everyday instead of just on Sunday mornings, we wouldn’t tire ourselves out putting on a mask for church, a mask for family, and a mask for classmates and co-workers.

I think a lot of times, we think that the ONLY thing we have to do is confess that Jesus is Lord and then from there we can live however we want and do whatever we please. Confessing that Jesus is Lord and truly believing in that confession is only the first step. Once we confess, we begin a lifelong process of being sanctified by Jesus himself! Sanctify means to make (something) holy (Merriam-Webster definition). The reason why sanctification is a lifelong process is because we’re human and mess up pretty much every day.

Laying down your life and serving God is not always easy but it’s always worth it. Once you surrender wholeheartedly, God will meet you right where you are and guide you. He’s just looking for people that are willing to die to their flesh completely so that they can be resurrected through him. Do Christians mess up? Absolutely! Living for God isn’t about never messing up, but instead is about striving to live a life where we mess up less and less each day and encourage others to take up the cross with us.